Milton emergency room to reimburse $30 extra late-night fee

Milton Hospital says it will reimburse patients who were charged higher fees for late-night emergency room treatment over a nearly five-month period.

Dennis Tatz

For five months, people had to pay more, simply because they got sick or hurt at the wrong time.

Now, Milton Hospital officials said they no longer charge emergency room patients an extra $30 for coming in from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

The hospital said it plans to reimburse those who paid higher fees for off-hours treatment, months after ending the practice and the same day the state’s largest health care union issued a plea decrying the policy.

Hospital spokesman Jason Bouffard said Tuesday that the hospital became aware in May that patients were being charged more and halted the practice. He added that steps are being taken now to identify those who paid more, so they can get refunds.

Higher charges were assessed at all those medical facilities for late-night emergency visits. Bouffard said the additional fees were first charged at Milton Hospital in January.

Early Tuesday, Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union – which represents about 34,000 health care workers in Massachusetts, in addition to about 300,000 in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington D.C. – brought attention to the extra fees, calling for an end to the practice and urging refunds.

“It’s not a large fee – $30. It’s a matter of principle,“ said Jeff Hall, a spokesman for the 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East union.

Hall said the union got data from Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly, which showed excess charges.

“We know that it has affected hundreds and possibly thousands of patients,” Hall said. “These fees seem to be an anomaly in the industry.”

But in a joint statement, Dr. Stuart Rosenberg, president and CEO of the Harvard physicians group, and Dr. Richard Wolfe, Beth Israel Deaconess emergency medicine department chairman, said physician groups in Massachusetts and across the country have a standard after-hours fee for emergency visits.

“This fee is designed to offset the cost of 24-hour, seven-day access to emergency medical services and is in compliance with state and federal law and all contracts Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard physicians group have with health care insurers,” the doctors stated.

Mike Fadel, the union’s executive vice president, said the fee was unfair because patients cannot predict when they will need medical attention.

“Consumers are seeing more fees everywhere these days, but hitting patients with a fee based on the time of their emergency crosses the line,” Fadel said. “It’s important for these fees to be refunded before this practice spreads to other hospitals and more patients are taken advantage of in their hour of need.”

Spokesmen for Quincy Medical Center, South Shore Hospital in Weymouth and Jordan Hospital in Plymouth said Tuesday that they do not charge more for late-night emergency room treatment.